Freshwater Tank Capacity

[Gary]

Hello,

I have a 96 litre Juwel Rekord 96 aquarium with the internal filter as well
as an external canister.
I have well rinsed sand as the substrate and have three medium sized pieces
of bog wood.

I would * like* to stock the following:

3 / 4 Clown Loach
2 / 3 Khulie Loach
5 neon tetra

Am I pushing it? I have a feeling this may be overstocking, I will not buy
if this is the case, my preference is in the order I have listed, Clown
Loach are by far my favourite Freshwater fish, followed by the Khuli and
Neons!

--
Regards,

Gary.

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[Gary]

Hello again,

Reading a book called:
"Aquarium Fish", a Collins publication, author is Kathy Jinkings.

It says to work out how many inch of fish you can house, use the following
equation:

x = inches width
y - inches height

(X * Y) / 12

Which with my tank with these dimensions:
(32"(L) * 14"(W) ) / 12 = 37 INCH OF FISH.


Am I correct? Other people say 1 inch per Gallon or 21 inch of fish for my
tank. A huge difference!

Gary.

[Gary]

Also, on Practical Fish Keepings calculator suggests up to 27" of fish but a
maximum of 53" based on special circumstances. It is very hard to get a
consistent answer!!! :)

Stocking density calculator results

Results
System type:
Tropical freshwater aquarium

Dimensions:
81 x 36 x 46cm/32" x 14" x 18

Surface area
0.29 sq m/3.14 sq ft/452 sq in

Volume
134 l./30 gal.

Probable volume
121 l./27 gal. (after displacement)





We would recommend keeping up to 27"/68cm of fish in your system. However,
depending on the type of fish, your filtration and your maintenance level
you may be able to exceed this to a suggested maximum of 53"/135cm of fish.
However, this, of course, requires care and thought for the type of fish
being stocked. We would advise you to read our Frequently asked questions on
stocking densities for more details on this subject.

Results
Stocking density27"/68cm of fish (built up gradually)
Maximum density53"/135cm of fish (probable theoretical maximum)

[Big Daddy]

Hey,

New to the group. The wife and I have been disscussing this for days
now. We have a 20 gallon freshwater. We have 2 - 2" Gourami 1 - 12"
Placatomous, 3 - 2"Danio's. The Plac. is the only source of discontent
in our disscussion. I say he counts as far as the total inch count in
the tank. She says no that the guy at the LFS says bottom feeders don't
count. I say that they do becuase they still pee and poop in the tank.
Other thoughts.

"Gary" > wrote in
. uk:

> Hello,
>
> I have a 96 litre Juwel Rekord 96 aquarium with the internal filter as
> well as an external canister.
> I have well rinsed sand as the substrate and have three medium sized
> pieces of bog wood.
>
> I would * like* to stock the following:
>
> 3 / 4 Clown Loach
> 2 / 3 Khulie Loach
> 5 neon tetra
>
> Am I pushing it? I have a feeling this may be overstocking, I will
> not buy if this is the case, my preference is in the order I have
> listed, Clown Loach are by far my favourite Freshwater fish, followed
> by the Khuli and Neons!
>

[Brian S.]

Agreed with the LFS.

Any living animal in the tank would qualify.

Of course, that doesn't include bacteria or algae, but any shrimps, fish,
algae eaters, etc.

Now, regarding overpopulation. If you have proper filtration and keep good
maintenance on the tank and possibly have a Bio-Wheel filter, you can
typically "overpopulate" your tank up to about 25% more. So, instead of
having 20 inches of fish in the 20 gallon, you might get away with 25
inches.

Again, this also depends on the type of fish too. Don't try to do this with
goldfish. Any fish that doesn't produce much waste would live well in those
circumstances.

Just my two cents.

Brian S.

"Big Daddy" > wrote in message
...
> Hey,
>
> New to the group. The wife and I have been disscussing this for days
> now. We have a 20 gallon freshwater. We have 2 - 2" Gourami 1 - 12"
> Placatomous, 3 - 2"Danio's. The Plac. is the only source of discontent
> in our disscussion. I say he counts as far as the total inch count in
> the tank. She says no that the guy at the LFS says bottom feeders don't
> count. I say that they do becuase they still pee and poop in the tank.
> Other thoughts.
>
> "Gary" > wrote in
> . uk:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > I have a 96 litre Juwel Rekord 96 aquarium with the internal filter as
> > well as an external canister.
> > I have well rinsed sand as the substrate and have three medium sized
> > pieces of bog wood.
> >
> > I would * like* to stock the following:
> >
> > 3 / 4 Clown Loach
> > 2 / 3 Khulie Loach
> > 5 neon tetra
> >
> > Am I pushing it? I have a feeling this may be overstocking, I will
> > not buy if this is the case, my preference is in the order I have
> > listed, Clown Loach are by far my favourite Freshwater fish, followed
> > by the Khuli and Neons!
> >
>

[Big Daddy]

Thanks,

I keep up with the maintanence fairly well. I use a Bio-wheel filter as well
to help when I get a little slack. So far we have had only one major
incident which is what led to the population we have now. My NO2 shot up to
off the charts and killed everything except the placatomous. Hearty fellow.
We lost an Angel that had for over 1 year and survived some of my earlier
learning periods.
W

[Andy Hill]

"Gary" > wrote:
>I have a 96 litre Juwel Rekord 96 aquarium with the internal filter as well
>as an external canister.
>I have well rinsed sand as the substrate and have three medium sized pieces
>of bog wood.
>
>I would * like* to stock the following:
>
>3 / 4 Clown Loach
>2 / 3 Khulie Loach
>5 neon tetra
>
>Am I pushing it? I have a feeling this may be overstocking, I will not buy
>if this is the case, my preference is in the order I have listed, Clown
>Loach are by far my favourite Freshwater fish, followed by the Khuli and
>Neons!
>
The Khuilis and Neons aren't a problem -- they're pretty small fish, even at
adult size. Long-term, the Clowns will be a problem -- they get around 10" if
their growth isn't stunted.

The conservative rule of thumb is an inch of fish per gallon -- in your case,
about 25 inches of fish. To go higher than that, you have to be a lot fussier
with your maintenance, and the whole system has a lot less leeway for error than
an aquarium stocked at the inch-per-gallon level. I wouldn't recommend
pushing above this until you have a year or two of experience under your belt.

[Dr Engelbert Buxbaum]

Gary wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I have a 96 litre Juwel Rekord 96 aquarium with the internal filter as well
> as an external canister.
> I have well rinsed sand as the substrate and have three medium sized pieces
> of bog wood.
>
> I would * like* to stock the following:
>
> 3 / 4 Clown Loach
> 2 / 3 Khulie Loach
> 5 neon tetra

Assuming your loaches to be about 5 cm each (which is the size often
found in shops) your 13 loaches would be about 65 cm, requiring approx.
130 l of water, your neons would increase that to about 150 or so.

In due course (that is over 30 years or so, they are very long-lived),
clown loaches get to 20-25 cm, so two of them would fill your present
tank.

So for your fishes you should get a 200 l tank to begin with, and then
after a couple of years either sell some of the loaches (they become
quite valuable as they grow) or get additional tanks for them.

[Mbuna]

> Big Daddywrote:
Hey,
>
> New to the group. The wife and I have been disscussing this for
days
> now. We have a 20 gallon freshwater. We have 2 - 2" Gourami 1 -
12"
> Placatomous, 3 - 2"Danio's. The Plac. is the only source of
discontent
> in our disscussion. I say he counts as far as the total inch count
in
> the tank. She says no that the guy at the LFS says bottom feeders
don't
> count. I say that they do becuase they still pee and poop in the
tank.
> Other thoughts.

You are correct. He DOES count for the exact reasons you mentioned.
In addition a 12" pleco is way too big for a 20 gallon tank anyway.
A minimum of 55 gallons is needed for a pleco that size.
__________________________________________________
Posted via FishGeeks - http://Aquaria.info

[Mbuna]

The problem with these "rules of thumbs" regarding stocking a tank is
that each fish is different. To give a classic example, compare 12
one inch neon tetra's to a single 12 inch Oscar. Which do you think
creates a greater load on the tank? For that matter an 8" oscar
would still be a greater load on the tank.

You cannot use these "rules" with any accuracy. You need to take into
account too many variables.

To answer your immediate question, you would be able to put those fish
into the tank without any problems. However as others have said,
clown loaches grow to be quite large. But, they are slow growers and
it will likely be 2 years before you'd start to have problems with
them.
__________________________________________________
Posted via FishGeeks - http://Aquaria.info

[Gary]

"Dr Engelbert Buxbaum" > wrote in message
...>
> Assuming your loaches to be about 5 cm each (which is the size often
> found in shops) your 13 loaches would be about 65 cm, requiring approx.
> 130 l of water, your neons would increase that to about 150 or so.



I only said 3 Clown Loaches IIRC...


--
Regards,

Gary.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Visit Tigger's site and read his story.
Browse photos of all our cats - Tigger, Tootsie and Tango.
http://www.cutecats.co.uk
---------------------------------------------------------------